Exploring the porous boundary between mainstream literary fiction and the genres of fantasy, horror, and sci-fi, this collection of short stories juxtaposes the conventional and the fabulist—with dazzling results. In Rikki Ducornet’s “Lettuce,” a petitioner in a futuristic totalitarian state pays with his life when he requests permission to grow lettuce; “Birthday of the World,” by Ursula K. Le Guin, is narrated by a woman whose brother destroys their culture when he decides he wants to be God; and the disillusioned wife in Carol Schwalberg’s “The Midnight Lover” finds the perfect marriage partner in her dreams, only to be divorced by the dream lover.

Edited by Ken Keegan and Rusty Morrison.

Contents:

• Lionflower Hedge by Ira Sher
• The Son of Chimera [excerpt from Pereat Mundus] by Leena Krohn
• The Cabinet of Edgar Allan Poe by Angela Carter
• Ever and Anon by Kate Kasten
• Lithia Park by William Luvaas
• The Third Jungle Book: A Mowgli Story by Michael Moorcock
• White Girl by Maureen N. McLane
• The Lucky Strike by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Third Initiation: A Gift from the Land of Dreams [excerpt from The Horses at the Gate] by Mary Mackey
• Side Effects by Janice Law
• The Concert Pianist’s Flight by Carole Rosenthal
• Making Faces by Stephen Shugart
• The Town News by Justin Courter
• The Midnight Lover by Carol Schwalberg
• Night Reconnaissance by Tom La Farge
• Short-Term Memorial Park by Shelley Jackson
• The Magnificent Carp of Hichi Street by Paul Pekin
• The Tears of Niobe by L. Timmel Duchamp
• Lettuce by Rikki Ducornet
• The Night of Love’s Last Dance [excerpt from In a Town Called Mundomuerto] by Randall Silvis
• Five Letters From an Eastern Empire by Alasdair Gray
• The Beginnings, Endings, and Middles Ball by Anna Tambour
• The Jack Kerouac Disembodied School of Poetics by Rudy Rucker
• Nobody’s Home by Ira Sher
• The Ice Cream Vendor [excerpt from Pereat Mundus] by Leena Krohn
• Jubilee Dreams by Karen Heuler
• An Accounting by Brian Evenson
• Armegedn, or The End of the Word by K. Bannerman
• Gardener of Heart by Bradford Morrow
• Maryolatry [excerpt from Ultravioleta] by Laura Moriarty
• The Cloud Room by Kevin W. Reardon
• The Tree by Noelle Sickels
• Nobody Walks in London by Terry Gates-Grimwood
• The Tiger’s Eye by Gladys Swan
• Skunk [excerpt from Skunk] by Justin Courter
• Old Flames in New Bottles by Michael Andre-Driussi
• Power Couple, or Love Never Sleeps by Charlie Anders
• Who’s There? by Rikki Ducornet
• The Secret Paths of Rajan Khanna by Jeff VanderMeer
• Dream Catcher by Mercedes Sanchez
• B, Longing by Robin Caton
• Three Tales by Laird Hunt
• About the Henbane City [excerpt from Pereat Mundus] by Leena Krohn
• Losing the War by Stepan Chapman
• The Flowers by Mark Wallace
• The White Man by Jeffrey Ford
• Finding the Words by Michael Constance
• English / History by Laura Mullen
• The Birthday of the World by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Cake by Michael Moorcock